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The Official Euro 2016 Megathread

I've been reading a bit of the fall out from yesterday. I've never been Roy Hodgson's biggest fan. Nice guy but way too conservative when it matters. So I was very pleased to see us line up and play like we did on Saturday which played to our attacking strengths. No issues with keeping it unchanged yesterday, indeed I was pleased and pleasantly surprised when he decided to throw on TWO strikers at half time. It was the right thing to do as Wales had no intention of committing bodies forward after Bale's goal. Still - I didn't think Hodgson would make two changes so soon.

I've now read that he 'got lucky' and it was a 'desperate throw of the dice'. The guy can't win sometimes. I've enjoyed the last couple of England games, and indeed some of the performances in the build up to the Euros (notably Germany) were really encouraging. You can argue that Rooney has been shoehorned into the side but I think he's answered that perfectly with two very good captain's performances. He's been a very good leader and MUST keep his place as he is making a difference in an unfamiliar role. He's got that one right. Kane has been hugely disappointed - but he was hooked at half time yesterday. I'd have started him even though he didn't do well v Russia. Again, he got that one right.

If Hodgson was 'getting lucky', I think I'd have been very quick to say so in this thread as he's not really impressed me over the last couple of tournaments. Obviously there is plenty of work to be done, and we still have to improve if we end up playing one of the better teams (getting rid of Rose and Sterling and teach Joe Hart how to hold on to a ball would be a good start) but I don't think we could have asked for much more from our first 2 games, aside from better finishing v Russia. It's been pretty encouraging.
 
People have this 'conservatism' tag in their head and it doesn't matter what actually happens, it sticks. Arguably we were too open against Italy and Uruguay in the World Cup, we've picked five strikers and three natural number 10s in this squad, there is absolutely no way you could describe the starting line up in either of the last two games as defensive, none of that matches the label. Ok, he brought Milner on to try to bolster midfield against Russia at 1-0 up, but most managers do similar. Croatia brought a lug of a centre half on after 89 minutes vs Turkey, of course their manager didn't get pilloried for being a Cautious Colin because they didn't concede right near the end.
 
Jinky said:
I've heard it all - one guy a couple of years ago had three grandads pass away in the space of a week!
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Was it this chap?

stephen-ireland-429290.jpg
 
I think there were changes that could've been made before the start of the game, sticking with Kane after the season he's had is understandable but the non-event left side of Sterling/Rose should've been remedied before it was, surely he can't go down that path again now?

The two half time changes were reasonable enough, though Vardy's involvement was limited to little more than his goal because of the way Wales were set up.

Didn't agree with the third change though, seemed a very simplistic, perhaps even desperate 'strikers=goals' change, he ended up with 3 forwards on the pitch who all do their best work in the same areas, finishing things off more so than creating them and took off the player who'd looked most likely to make something happen in doing so. Thankfully Sturridge was looking pretty keen to make an impression, though it didn't always work out for him, dropping deep and trying to get on the ball to at least have a go at making something happen.

It's been alright so far but I think there's still room for improvement both with the manager and team as a whole.
 
Who would you have brought on instead of Rashford?
 
Wilshere probably, someone who could try and probe at them from a bit deeper, like Sturridge did for the winning goal, could perhaps have sacrificed Dier as Wales had all but given up attacking at that point.
 
Having watched the game back now I thought Rashford did very well when he came on!

I think Hodgson has done a very good job in the past two years. The football we play is vastly improved. Every now and then Rooney gets sucked in to the same thing Gerrard kept doing of spraying it about which, while it looks nice, slows down our play. In general though we play in between the lines far better than I ever imagined Hodgson would ever get us to.

There is still a lot of work to do, and while maybe the substitutions were very simplistic I think we could afford to do them because of how Wales set up (or rather, didn't). We did create some opportunities before the goal where we fluffed our lines or Wales defended very bravely. Against better teams we may need to have a more than we showed yesterday but equally I don't think we will have many more matches like these past two games. Slovakia need to win against us and will have to show some attacking intent, and in the knockout rounds I can't imagine many teams just sitting off of us.
 
MARKakaJIM said:
Wilshere probably, someone who could try and probe at them from a bit deeper, like Sturridge did for the winning goal, could perhaps have sacrificed Dier as Wales had all but given up attacking at that point.
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Roy actually did say the plan was always to bring either Rashford/Wilshere on, so it was clearly in his thinking! Dier I would never sacrifice as he is so important to defending the counter attack. Even though Wales threatened very little in that aspect in the second half that was in part due to the good work Dier was doing. I'm so impressed by him.
 
Yeah, I don't think I'd ever want to start a game with Rashford basically playing as a left winger but he did very well in an unfamiliar role. Skinned Gunter more than once and always wanted the ball.
 
MARKakaJIM said:
Wilshere probably, someone who could try and probe at them from a bit deeper, like Sturridge did for the winning goal, could perhaps have sacrificed Dier as Wales had all but given up attacking at that point.
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I'd have done that too but you can't argue with the result. Apart from his goal (yes I know it was the winner) I thought Sturridge was rubbish.
 
He wasn't brilliant but I think what Sturridge does at least offer us someone willing to take risks. He lost the ball quite often but only because he was trying to unlock Wales defence. Eventually that came off for him as he tried a good give and go. When we play a team that defend deep I think he is more suitable than Kane/Vardy up top personally. If he can stay fit he is such a fantastic player and a more than useful person to have in the squad.
 
Sturridge provided the cross for our first and scored the winner. To say he was rubbish is a bit of an overstatement. He's always been selfish but he at least can beat a man and create something.

Kane is greedy too but is struggling to get into the games as he can't really create or hold the ball up consistently. He needs a partner up top IMO. For Spurs Alli plays so far forward that he gives him that but Alli is playing a slightly deeper role for us.

I can see Sturridge and Vardy starting alongside Lallana, with Kane on the bench.
 
Strurridge was involved in the game so much more than Kane (there was a stat on 5 live that he made 27 contributions vs kane's 7).

It might not always come off but he is also available and willing to try and do something. He scored the winner and set up the equaliser, that's almost as good as you could hope for someone playing 45 mins.
 
Been really impressed with Lallana, although can't truly say he's made a telling contribution yet.
Should have if Sterling had knocked in his sitter yesterday I suppose.
 
I could see us making a few changes. Slovakia have a days rest more than us so might want to freshen it up. Could see Wilshere, Bertrand, Sturridge and Vardy all coming into the starting eleven.
 
tredman said:
Strurridge was involved in the game so much more than Kane (there was a stat on 5 live that he made 27 contributions vs kane's 7).

It might not always come off but he is also available and willing to try and do something. He scored the winner and set up the equaliser, that's almost as good as you could hope for someone playing 45 mins.
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I think that's the wrong comparison, Sturridge should be marked against Sterling not Kane, it was Vardy that took the more central role and he took his chance well but apart from that contributed about as much as Kane whereas Sturridge was far more effective than Sterling. Sterling was almost the worst player on the pitch so it wasn't hard to improve on him.
 
A lot of what Sturridge tried yesterday didn't come off, times where he selfishly shot from stupid places or held onto the ball too long trying to make a telling contribution, but even though his overall performance wasn't great I was pleased to see him at least try and offer something different to what else was there, and largely wasn't working.

Vardy got his goal but what else did he offer? Suffocated of space in behind he was just loitering in the box surrounded by Welsh defenders and thus didn't really make any other telling contribution, Sturridge at least went in search of space, got himself on the ball and gave himself the opportunity to try and get things going. The application wasn't the best, certainly not consistent, but I can't fault the intention at all, it's exactly what you need to try and break down a stubborn defence.
 
Johnny75 said:
I think that's the wrong comparison, Sturridge should be marked against Sterling not Kane, it was Vardy that took the more central role and he took his chance well but apart from that contributed about as much as Kane whereas Sturridge was far more effective than Sterling. Sterling was almost the worst player on the pitch so it wasn't hard to improve on him.
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Good point. That said I wasn't massively impressed with Vardy yesterday.
 
MARKakaJIM said:
A lot of what Sturridge tried yesterday didn't come off, times where he selfishly shot from stupid places or held onto the ball too long trying to make a telling contribution, but even though his overall performance wasn't great I was pleased to see him at least try and offer something different to what else was there, and largely wasn't working.

Vardy got his goal but what else did he offer? Suffocated of space in behind he was just loitering in the box surrounded by Welsh defenders and thus didn't really make any other telling contribution, Sturridge at least went in search of space, got himself on the ball and gave himself the opportunity to try and get things going. The application wasn't the best, certainly not consistent, but I can't fault the intention at all, it's exactly what you need to try and break down a stubborn defence.
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Totally agree with all of this, tbf. Although I'd have been raging at Sturridge's performance if he hadn't have scored.
 
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